The Importance of Seeking Knowledge Before Giving Religious Verdicts
THE DANGER OF GIVING RELIGIOUS VERDICTS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymīn (may ALLĀH have mercy on him) said:
“Certainly from amongst the greatest sins is for a person to say something is halāl or harām while he does not know ALLĀH’s judgement upon it.
How is it, O servant of ALLĀH, that you know the judgement is for ALLĀH alone and you put yourself before HIM and say about HIS Religion and HIS Law that which you do not know?
Many amongst the general Muslims pass religious verdicts about which they do not know. So you find them saying such-and-such is halāl or harām, or wājib or ghayr wājib, while they know absolutely nothing about it!
Do they know if they misguide someone by making something halāl while ALLĀH has made it harām or making something harām while ALLĀH has made it halāl, that they draw themselves to his sins and upon them is the burden of that which he does, and that is as a result of what they passed as a religious verdict for him?
HIS offense is against the Law of ALLĀH and deception against his Muslim brother since he has passed a religious verdict without sound knowledge.
Have you seen when someone asks you directions to a place, and you say the way is from here while in fact you do not know? Will the people not consider this to be deception on your part? Then how do you speak about the way to Jannah which is the Law ALLĀH has revealed while you know nothing about it!?
And certainly some of the teachers are but small fish compared to the scholars.
If you were to hear one of them speak, it is as if revelation were descending upon him in that which he is saying with absolute authority and lack of caution. Is it not possible for him to say, ‘I do not know‘, with the fact that lack of knowledge is one of his true and confirmed attributes. However, he insisted, based upon his ignorance, that he is knowledgeable. So as a result he harms the general Muslims, because perhaps the people have trust in what he is saying and are being deceived by him.”
{‘Kitābul ‘Ilm || Page 100-102}